Is this what to expect from SMF?

[gelsbern]

I have used SMF for some low traffic websites, I have been happy with it, even helped with a couple mods, but now I have a site that is going to get some heavy heavy traffic and I am afraid that the results will be the same as what happens here on simplemachines.org  "Due to heavy server load, the forum has been temporarily disabled" or even worse, "Search has been disabled"  which makes trying to find support for a forum next to impossible.

Exactly how much of a load can SMF handle?  I mean I am not talking about slashdot type traffic, but it could be pretty heavy and having any part of the forum cease functioning is not an option.

Thanks

[anunlike]

These sites are all SMF:

http://rankings.big-boards.com/?filter=SMF,all&p=all

[Harzem]

You see, there are lots of heavy SMF forums.

Let's say, if you are paying 7$/mo to your hosting company and expecting SMF to handle 100 people online simultaneously, you will be in trouble.

For any type of forum script, you must have a bigger hosting package for heavier forums.

[gelsbern]

Thanks, that's a bit of a relief.

I don't understand why the SMF site itself seems to shut itself down so often.

[Ben_S]

This server is underpowered, specifically it only has 1GB of ram and an IDE hard drive. The site team is working on getting this sorted.